Jackson Free Press

There's never a slow news week in Jackson, Miss., and last week was no exception. Here are the local stories JFP reporters brought you in case you missed them:

1. Family members held a press conference next to the car George Robinson was in when an encounter with police began on Jan. 13—the night he died. At a Jan. 24 press conference, the family demanded "justice."
2. Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba is joining 15 mayors from cities in the U.S. in a Mayors for Smart Crime Initiative, the Center for American Progress announced Thursday.
3. Medical marijuana in Mississippi is on pace to make it onto the ballot in the state next year, said Jonathan Brown, who is leading the signature drive.
4. Officials in Mississippi's capital city are choosing a new operator for the Jackson Zoo. Jackson chief administrative officer Robert Blaine says officials want a St. Louis organization, ZoOceanarium, to take over the troubled zoo.
5. Ronnie Crudup Jr., who directs New Horizon Ministries in south Jackson, is running for the Mississippi Legislature.
6. As the 2019 legislative session heats up, state legislators are again tussling over the Medicaid program and whether or not to accept federal funds that could expand coverage to as many as 300,000 Mississippians.
7. JPD Chief James Davis faced a double crisis that started Jan. 13—the murder of a preacher in the Washington Addition, followed by allegations that an officer may have killed a different man while looking for the murderer.
8. After years of tough-on-crime approaches to arrests and filling prison, conservatives have joined the bandwagon for some types of reform to how America incarcerates its people.
9. A new study ranked Mississippi as the least educated state in the country, less than two weeks after Gov. Phil Bryant declared the state's education system "clearly better than it has ever been before."
10. On Friday, Jan. 18, Lucky Town Brewing Company announced that it will soon end beer production . The tap room will remain open until March 9.

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